Barding for Horses

[Hyborian Apeman]

My PCs are hounding me about the costs of barding for horses.

Horses already have DR, so would it be reasonable to add armor on top of that?

Are smiths in the Hyborean age skilled enough to create barding for horses?

If so, what would the cost be?

 

[DasClay]

Yeah, use some of the examples of the D&D listing armor for horses...

 

[The King]

My PCs are hounding me about the costs of barding for horses.

Horses already have DR, so would it be reasonable to add armor on top of that?

Are smiths in the Hyborean age skilled enough to create barding for horses?

If so, what would the cost be?

If I remember well, cavalry of most Hyborian kingdoms had barding.

 

[Jason Durall]

Though it's not official, the OGL Barbarian sourcebook The Barbaric Warrior has rules for barding:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4665

Odd that it would show up here, as most barbarians that I can think of from history traditionally didn't use something as sophisticated as barding.

 

[argo]

Barding for a horse (size Large, non-humanoid) costs four times as much as the equivalent armor for a human and weighs twice as much.
Barding for a pony (size Medium, non-humanoid) costs twice as much as the equivalent armor for a human and weighs the same ammount as the equivalent armor.
Donning/removing barding takes five tiems as long as normal for a human to don/remove the equivalent armor and a mount wearing barding cannot carry any load other than the rider and saddle.

The general consensus on the boards the last time this subject came up was that the listed natural DR for most animals, and horses in particular, was stupidly high. (DR 6 for a Warhorse! :shock: ). I usually give medium animals a DR of 1-2, large 2-3 and huge 3-4.

Yes barding was used in the Hyborian age though mostly by the Hyborian knighthood themselves. I recall several Conan stories where there are Hyborian knights riding horses with barding.

Hope that helps.

 

[Hyborian Apeman]

That does help. Thanks.